Seed counting and selecting device



.Dec- 7, 1948 R. D. PUTMAN ETAL 2,455,701

SEED yccnmTm; AND SELECTING DEVICE Filed June 18, 1945 2 Sheets-Sheet 2Patented Dec. 7, 1948 "UNITED- STATES PAT-ENT oralessennoounrmdzlvsoilnorme Device y Sioux. Cityazln `nilplmation 1945seriaiino, couilles t Our inventionfpertains to adevice foraccul ratelycounting land selecting a predetermined number of seeds. n l n object ofour inventionis to provide a ldevice of this character which will selectany given number offseed's, whether such seeds be irregular in shape ornot, and to transfer such seeds to any desired` location` and" then,release the same for various purposes suchy as planting regardless ofthe seed size. i n y y A further object of our invention is to providean automatic arrangement for performingl'the abovey operation., u 1 'nA. further object of ourv inventionis toprovide a vacuum effect throughaseries of' comparatively attenuated tubes or such members to allowntheinsertion of av seed` gathering. member intoI a mass of seeds. y n

`A "further object of our invention is toprov'de an automaticarrangement. which can be properly synchronized with, aA plantingarrangement. n A further object of `our invention is to providetheabovefmentioned objects in a simple mechanical' structure and whichcanlbe manufactured'at ai reasonable joost. n n y With these and` otherobjects in view, our invention consists inthe construction,arrangement.and` combination ofthe various parts of our device,l wherebythe objects contemplated are. attainedfas hereinafter more fully setforth, v

pointed, out in our claims and illustrated' in the accompanyingdrawings, "in, which Figure, 1. is. aside elevation 'of the arrangementtaken substantially along the lines` |`-I of'Figure 2, u l Figure 2' isaplan. View taken substantially along the lines 22--2 of Figure I, n jFigure 3' is an enlarged detail of theV vacuum head',y and'takenalong'the lines 3 3 of" Figure 4,

y Figure 411is albottom view of the vacuum head,

"Figure 5 is al detail ofi the 'vacuum headf `air inlet,` and; y y lFigure i's` an enlarged detail' of: the nozzle `end of one of. thesuction-tubes.

Our invention contemplates particularlwthe provisionnoia method forselecting and holding a `pred'etermined 'number oi seeds litany` shapeor. substantial size from amass otshch seeds, and `thenceholdingsuchseed's and transferring thefsame` to anecessary place of"deposit suchas in a planter or the "like, which arrangement' is fullyautomati"c` requiring no attention by an o peraftont` n n n n Wehaveused the character "I to designate a platform which extends* intothe portions rl and Iz'wnich platform is suitably attached15o-bracketsf`t3` and f4 which brackets can be attached to any'device/and in particular to a seed planting-arrangement which isordinarily drawn from a tractor; AttachedV tothe platform Ml is asubstantiallyenlarged cylindrical seed container lf5"which includes alower opening at I6 which opening communicates with the auxiliarysmallerrchambfer Il, thenature-and size of the opening' `at lpermittingthe seeds such asy If8`= te ravitate into the vessel I1 andv at the sametime maintain a substantially constant level,l such operation beingpermitted due to the natu-re of the 'seed itself and thex opening.Attached to theplatform portion i2 isla vacuum chamber I9 which isconnected through the pipe 218 to a rotary vacuum pump`2l".Communieating with the chamber i9 through the" pipe 22' is a 'exibletubeV 23 `which is securely attached at 24' to a vacuum head member 25Vwhich: includes a Vertical'hollow neckZB, the tube 23 being `attachedtcrslichneck?.` Thel neck 26 includes the hollow cylindrical; opening2-1`passing therethrough which opening-communicates with the enlargedcylindrical headrnember 2'8- lwhich head member inclu'des al `series of'threaded openings- 2'9' in which are threaldably received the threaded*portions-53h ofthewattenuated* tubes 3l' which tubes` 3"! terminate inthetconical ends 32". i

Securely"attached about the portions 33 lef them'ember- 32- `are therubber tips 34 such tips llsobeing offa substantial cone shape toprovide a restrictedI nozzleu opening at 3,5 (see Figurey 6). "i"Located" at `the other' side of theY chamber 2B isanopeningf-(seeFigure 5`) in which is recoli/'ed` the pin `31 which is attached tothe valve 38", 'and `attached at the other end of the' pin 3"!" is` theabutment member 39, there also being `prmfided a compression springlll)l positioned between. theV valvey 38 and the member t9r withlsuciig'sprir'lg being attached to both members to support thevalve.Extending `from the neck 2B is ani armcl* which terminates inthevertical slid- *abl'eplungerqlz which is slidably received withr in"a: bearing' 43 which bearing is attached toa "bracketv Mi Attached tothe member 42 is a co1lar-y45i 4and a compression spring 4B receivestheuneniberwllz and is positioned betweenthe bearinglf31and'the'collarl5.

attachee to the lowerendof they member `le ispa" `roller) member `IFI"which extends at right tangles to the memberV 62 andl `is adaptedtocon-- stantly`abut againstthe cam member "48; the c m" member nincluding?the smaller portionl W9 the eccentric portion 50: Extending 3the portion 5|] of the cam is a further cam portion 5|, and recessedwithin the cam 50 is the indent 52. Attached at 53 to the arm 4| is atension spring 54 which is attached at 55 to the post 56 which isattached to the platform |0. Passing through the platform I6 is anopening 51 which communicates with a funnel 58 having the open tubularend 59. Attached to the bracket 44 is an extending abutment member 6D.The cam 48 is attached to a shaft 6| which is journalled within thebearing 62 and interposed between the shaft 6| and the further shaftportion 63 is an overrunning clutch member 64. Attached to the shaft 63is a pulley 65 about which passes the belt 66 which drives the smallpulley 61 which is attached to the shaft 68 which is journalled at 69,the shaft 68 being adapted to rotate the pumping mechanism within thepump 2|. Attached to the outer end of the shaft 63 is an enlarged ringgear 16, which is meshed with the still larger gear 1| which gear 1| canbe attached inside of the wheel 12, the wheel 12 being one of the wheelsof the planter. Attached at 13 to the portion of the platform is afurther bracket 14 through which is slidably received the .pin 15 whichpin is attached to the locking member 16, the collar 11 being attachedto the pin 15 and the bracket including a portion 18 between whichportion and the collar 11 is located the compression spring 19. A forkmember 8|] bears against the collar 11 and is pivoted at 8| andcommunicates with a laterally positioned member 82 through which canpass a check row wire 83 having the usual knots 84 attached thereto.

Now that the structure of our device has been explained, we shallexplain the operation thereof. The seed which is carried in the mainchamber |5 will gravitate to a normal level within the auxiliary chamber|1, and as fast as it is used. The entire arrangement as explainedheretofore can be attached to a standard planter etc. It will be notedfrom the meshed engagement of the gears 16 and 1| that the pump 2| willevacuate the air in the reservoir I8 constantly during forward motion ofthe planter due to the rotation of the wheel 12. The tendency is thusfor a constant vacuum or partial vacuum to be formed in the chamber I9which similarly causes a vacuum to be applied through the tube 23 andthrough the head portion 28 and alsothrough the small tubes 3|. vThisvacuum or suction therefore has the tendency of causing seeds or anysimilar particles to be firmly held against the tips 34 due to theexcess of air pressure beneath the seeds. rather small so that contactof the nozzle end with any portion of the seed will cause a firmretention thereof. The rubber tip 34l also provides a resilient gasketat this. point to hold the suction. The tubes 3| are adapted to normallydip slightly `beneath the normal level of the seeds in the vessel |1 andas shown in Figure 1. As the shafts 63 and 6| drive the cam 48, it willrotate in the direction of the arrow 85 and due to the eccentricityofthe portion 5l] the cam will cause the roller member 41 to rise,carrying the plunger 42 upwardly as well as the head 28.

Figure 3 illustrates seedssuch as corn being held against the nozzleends, such seeds tending to be drawn toward these ends even though theymay originally be at a slight distance from the same, and as the headmoves upwardly out of the chamber |1 only one seed will be attracted ordrawn to each nozzle opening 35. Figure 3 illustrates also the fact thatthe seed is held regard- The opening at is made purposely less of itsposition due to the above mentioned features. As the cam rotatesupwardly the head 28 is forced upwardly and out of the vessel |1. Assoon as the protuberance 5| on the cam strikes against the roller 41,and due to the fact that the plunger 42 has traveled to its maximumupper position this protuberance 5| will swing the member 41 toward theleft as Viewed in Figure 2 carry ing the entire head 28 to the dottedposition as shown in Figure 2. The head is then set for the releasing ordepositing operation, and as soon as the abutment member 39 strikes themember 60, the valve 38 will be forced inwardly allowing a considerablecharge of air under normal pressure into thefhead member 28, destroyingthe vacuum therein which will allow the seeds I8 to drop into the funnel58 and into the tube 59, and thence downwardly into the ground, orwherever it is desired to deposit the same.

Immediately after this operation the protuberance 5| will have passedbeyond the roller member 41 whereby the spring 54 will pull thearrangement back to its normal position again ready `for the nextoperation. It will be noted that as soon as the head 28 is released fromabutting engagement with the portion 60 that the vacuum will be quicklyreestablished, and it will also be noted that since the chamber I8 is ofconsiderable volume compared to the head 28, that there willcorrespondingly be an excess of Vacuum or suction at all times in thehead 28. This operation will thereby be maintained constantly,` themechanism passing through the aforesaid cycles, first picking up theseed, and only the number of seeds as required, and thence depositingthe same. The various figures illustrate the 'device for picking upthree seeds, although the head member 28 can be employed to pick up anydesired number, for instance from one to six seeds as shown in Figure'4, with the blanking plugs 86 being employed when it is desired toblank out certain of the openings.

In many cases such as in a check row planter it is desired to operatetheseed selecting arrangement at certain intervals, or when the knots 84 onthe check wire 83 will trip the mechanism. .In this type of apparatusthe locking tongue 16 will be inserted within the indent 52 of the cam48 thereby locking the cam against rotation, the overrunning clutch 64causing the shaft 6| to remain stationary even though the shaft 63 isrotating. As soon as the knot 84 passes through the portion 82however,'it will cause the fork 86 to move the pin 15 toward the rightas viewed in Figure 1 thereby releasing the tongue 16 momentarily fromthe indent 52. This allows the cam 48 to continue to rotate with theaforesaid action taking place. This action will be maintained with thetongue 16 bearing against the cam surfaces without locking the camhowever until the indent 52 is again reached.' This then, causes auniform spacing of the deposited seed, it only being necessary tomaintain one revolution of the cam 48 at a slightly lesser rate than theinterval set up -by the knots 84. The overrunning clutch 64 thereforewill cause movement of the shaft 6| at all times when the tongue 16 isout of engagement with the indent 52.

It will be observed that the ratio of the gears 10 and 1| permit akrelatively slow movement of the cam 48 while the ratio of the constantlydriven pulley 65 and the small pulley 61 provides a rapidily rotatingpump 2|, so that the constant vacuum is insured. It should be realizedthat 'our devicewill pertain not only toseedplanters,

but in principle will apply to other arrangements wherein it isnecessary to withdraw a certain number of seeds and deposit, the same,and in uniform relation.

The above-described device does not therefore require a previousgradingof the seed, since it will plant the seed in this mannerregardless of size, whereas heretofore planting devices have requiredgrading as to size so that the planting mechanism would operateproperly. This device therefore allows the farmer or operator toperformthe planting or similar operation without pre-grading,

It will now be seen that We have provided all of the various objectsmentioned in our invention with various other advantages being readilyapparent.

Some changes may be made in the construction and arrangement of theparts of our invention without departing from the real spirit andpurpose of our invention, and it is our intention to cover by our claimsany modified forms of structure or use of mechanical equivalents whichmay be reasonably included within their scope.

We claim as our invention:

l. A seed counting and selecting device comprising a vacuumcreatingsource, a vacuum head connected thereto, said head including aplurality of attenuated tubes having end openings, whereby suctionapplied through said openings will cause seeds to adhere thereto, meansfor automatically moving said head and said tubes to a positionadjacentto seed attaching position including an eccentric cam member,saidhead having an extension whereby abutment thereagainst by rotationof the cam member will elevate said head, means for swinging said headto a depositing position including an arm attached to said extension,said cam including a protuberant portion adapted to swing said arm,means for releasing the vacuum in said head when said head is swung toits depositing position including a valve member in said head, means foropening said valve member to cause air pressure to now in said head whensaid head is in such depositing position.

2. A seed counting and selecting device comprising a vacuum creatingsource, a vacuum head connected thereto, said head including a pluralityof attenuated tubes having end openings, whereby suction applied throughsaid openings will cause seeds to adhere thereto, means forautomatically moving said head and said tubes to a position adjacent toseed attaching position including an eccentric cam member, said headhaving an extension whereby abutment thereagainst by rotation of the cammember will elevate said head, means for swinging said head to adepositing position including an arm attached to said extension, saidcam including a protuber.

ant portion adapted to swing said arm, means for releasing the vacuum insaid head when said head is swung to its depositing position including avalve member in said head, means for opening said valve `member to causeair pressure to flow in said head when said head is in such depositingposition, means for synchronously causing operation of said device froma planter including a locking tongue, said cam having an indent forreceiving said tongue to lock said cam against movement until releaseVof said tongue, `said tongue adapted to be released by a check wire.

ROBERT D. PUTMAN. CARLETON M. MAGOUN.

REFERENCES CITED UNITED STATES PATENTS Name Date Bagger June 20, 1905Number

